QUESTION: There are people claiming that Fed cannot buy directly from the Treasury and they are buying the same day issue in this Repo Crisis so that means they are monetizing the debt because foreigners are fleeing us Debt. This seems to lack any real substance and is nothing but opinion once again. Would you comment on this new conspiracy theory?
DU
ANSWER: You are correct. This makes no sense. The Repo Market is overnight. Banks buy the T-Bills because they are Primary Dealers and MUST buy in the auctions to retain that position. Simply because they put them into Repo the same day means nothing. They buy them back the next day. This is complete nonsense and it once again demonstrates that all people look at is domestic issues. The claim foreigners are selling US debt is absurd. Foreign buying of US debt is intensifying as European banks ship cash to their US branches who are buying the debt and posting cash at the Fed in the excess reserve facility because of the fear of a banking crisis in Europe.
The Repo Crisis has NOTHING to do with the Fed hiding some problem in the USA and the Fed is not monetizing the debt using Repo. We have a major crisis unfolding and neither the central banks nor the primary banks will talk about what is taking place behind the curtain. This is a very MAJOR CRISIS, and it will get far worse. I am rushing to get this report out ASAP because this can be the mother of all financial crises that is over the heads of domestic analysis.